April 8, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

[Hiramite]

One year to go before a Total Solar Eclipse stretches from TX to ME. I'm excited about this one as I get a few minutes of totality provided we're cloud free that day.   Anyone planning on viewing I suggest getting your viewing glasses well ahead of time.  During the last "major" eclipse they were impossible to find as the event grew near.

A bazillion articles out there, here are just a couple with some good basic info.

https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/april-8-2024

 

This one will give you data for any particular location.  After entering a location, it seems to default to the next solar or lunar eclipse, not the April 2024 Total eclipse, so scroll down and click on the April 2024 event.

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2024-april-8

[Rush]

I've had a house booked in central Texas since last year.  I am hoping that the owner doesn't cancel on me because I got standard rates.  Houses are going for 4-5x a night than what I paid now.

After the eclipse going to drive out out Big Bend and Carlsbad Caverns.  Some real dark sky territory.  Haven't been in total dark skies in like 10 years. 

[Iceresistance]

I plan to go to Idabel, OK

[Hoosier]

Really looking forward to this.  I went to a small town in southern IL for the one in 2017, and part of me wants to go back to that same exact spot because of the rarity of being able to witness 2 total solar eclipses in the same location less than 7 years apart.  But obviously the determining factor of where I'll end up will be the cloud cover forecast.  Hoping to be somewhere in IL or IN but will travel elsewhere if necessary.

As someone who saw the 2017 total eclipse, this is one of those events that I highly recommend seeing at least once in your lifetime.  And I mean being in the path of totality.  98% or 99% of the sun being blocked may sound like it's good enough, but it's really not even comparable to 100%.  You'll see the daylight dimming to some extent, but the changes that take place in the final ~30-60 seconds before totality hits are quite rapid.  The best way to describe it is like somebody quickly hitting a dimmer switch.  

Overall, it's a remarkable experience that you'll never forget.  Some people cry, some people scream, some people are left speechless.  For me, it was a strange feeling like I understood the universe and how grand it is, and I had this feeling of inner peace that persisted even quite a while after.  

Edited April 9, 2023 by Hoosier

[MaineJay]

I'm planning on making the 2 hour drive up to Carrabasset Valley to see this with the family.  Hoping I can convince a few others to make it a fun trip.   My old man hals a camp up there, the wife and kids might not be up for a mile long trek in if there's too much snow, so I might just try and find a good spot to hang out and watch a little farther north of the camp that we can drive to. 

[Hoosier]

Just adding some info about my travel experience from the 8/21/2017 eclipse...

My hotel was in the St. Louis metro area, just barely outside of the path of totality.  I chose that location for flexibility as my #1 target was the southern IL/western KY area, with a backup option of heading toward northwest MO/eastern NE if necessary.  As previously mentioned, I ended up in southern IL (a town called Goreville) and the eclipse experience itself was great, but the trip home was a nightmare.  It took me almost 16 hours to get home, which is triple the time that it should've been.  I tried everything from interstate to state roads and even some county roads, but they were all packed with traffic.  I didn't wait around really long after totality ended, so my guess is that a lot of people must've left their viewing location literally right after totality ended.  I think a lot of people converged on that southern IL area because it basically had the longest time in totality, and I think it was the favored destination of people coming from the heavily populated Chicago metro area.

Not sure what I'll do this time, but I'm either going to bail immediately after totality ends or possibly get a hotel for the 8th into the 9th just to avoid another traffic nightmare.  Just throwing this stuff out there for people to think about when it comes to travel considerations.  I would imagine a place like Texas will be flooded with travelers due to having the longest totality in the US and being more climo favored from a cloud perspective.

[snowlover2]

Luckily i'm in the totality path. Appears to be 3 minutes long here.

[Rush]

I was looking through a list of upcoming comets and happened to notice 12P/Pons–Brooks which will be magnitude 4 in April of next year.  I wonder if it will be visible during totality and if not show up in photography.  

I am going to be in Texas for the eclipse and big bend the week after.  Should be good dark sky to see the comet.

[Hoosier]

Going to be reserving a hotel room in the Indianapolis area for the 7th into the 8th.  Don't want to take a chance and wait to leave my house until the morning of April 8th due to the uncertainty about traffic or anything else that can go wrong like car trouble (unlikely as it may be}.  May not actually stay in Indy for the eclipse itself, although there is some allure for me to experience it in a big city after being in a small town for the 2017 eclipse.  I feel like Indy is a good prelim location as there are some good road options to reposition if necessary.  Hopefully the entire Midwest isn't blanketed in clouds that day.

Some fun facts about total solar eclipses in Indianapolis:  The last one to occur in the city was back in the year 1205, which covered just a portion of the city (or the land where the city is located nowadays lol).  The last total solar eclipse to cover all of modern day Indianapolis was way back in the year 831!  It's been unusually long for Indianapolis.  I think the average return rate of a total solar eclipse for a given location is something like once every 350 years.     

[Hoosier]

Only a little over 2 months away!

Really hoping to stay in Indiana for this, but clouds will determine that and I'm willing to reposition out of state if necessary.  I have a few potential areas picked out in Indiana.  One is Indianapolis, which will have about 3 minutes 30 seconds to 3 minutes 55 seconds of totality, depending on what part of the city you're in (longer totality the farther south/east you are in Indianapolis).  Another area I'm looking at is somewhere south of Indy, where totality gets up to a full 4 minutes long.  Another possibility is around Vincennes, which will have the longest totality in Indiana at 4 minutes 5 seconds. 

Gonna say it now but this will bear repeating as we get closer.  For anybody heading into the path of totality, I'd strongly suggest not wasting time trying to take cell phone pics/videos of the eclipsed sun.  It won't do it justice, and you want to experience something like this with your eyes, not through a camera.  If you want to have a camera set up nearby to document the events, that's another story.  In the 2017 eclipse, I took a ~10 second video not of the sky, but only of the surroundings just to document that I was there. 

Also, do not get hyper focused on looking at the eclipse for the entire time.  You want to take in as much of the entire experience as you can in the precious 3-4 minutes of totality or however long it is where you are.  Look around.  And turn around, because the "360 degree sunset" is one of the cool aspects of a total eclipse. 

[Rush]

 

On 1/31/2024 at 7:17 PM, Hoosier said:

 

Gonna say it now but this will bear repeating as we get closer.  For anybody heading into the path of totality, I'd strongly suggest not wasting time trying to take cell phone pics/videos of the eclipsed sun.  It won't do it justice, and you want to experience something like this with your eyes, not through a camera.  If you want to have a camera set up nearby to document the events, that's another story.  In the 2017 eclipse, I took a ~10 second video not of the sky, but only of the surroundings just to document that I was there. 

 

I just finished my camera set up for the eclipse.  I 3D printed my own solar filter.

Going to be more nervous watching the potential cloud cover on the models next month than if a big nor easter was brewing.

 

 

Edited February 4 by Rush

[MaineJay]

18 hours ago, Rush said:

 

I just finished my camera set up for the eclipse.  I 3D printed my own solar filter.

Going to be more nervous watching the potential cloud cover on the models next month than if a big nor easter was brewing.

 

 

You planning on a time lapse?  I'm thinking of having 2 cameras set up, one for a time lapse and one with no filter for totality.   Not sure of where I'm going yet, hoping my dad's camp is accessible, but depends on snow.  It's a mile or 2 hike, and I'm not sure the family will enjoy that if is snowy or muddy going in... otherwise, I might just try to find a nice open area nearby. 

[Rush]

5 hours ago, MaineJay said:

You planning on a time lapse?  I'm thinking of having 2 cameras set up, one for a time lapse and one with no filter for totality.   Not sure of where I'm going yet, hoping my dad's camp is accessible, but depends on snow.  It's a mile or 2 hike, and I'm not sure the family will enjoy that if is snowy or muddy going in... otherwise, I might just try to find a nice open area nearby. 

I don't have an equatorial mount to track the sun so I am going to have to manually adjust the lens as the day progresses.  Otherwise I would automate the entire experience.    I've thought about buying a mount but since I am flying I don't really want to dedicate bag space for it.

I will take pictures probably every 10-15 minutes on either side of totality.  During totality I'll simply pop the solar filter off and a few 10 frame exposure bracketing shots. 

With the solar filter on I plan to shoot at f/12-16, 100 iso, then whatever shutter speed seems good.  During totality I will shoot f/12-16, 100 iso, then use the shutter to bracket 10 steps.  

 

[clm]

 

From   https://spaceweather.com  we'll get more than just the eclipse apparently.

 

SOLAR ECLIPSE COMET: Anticipation is building for a rare sight during this April's total solar eclipse. In addition to the sun's corona, there's going to be a comet. 12P/Pons-Brooks will be close to the sun during totality, potentially visible to the naked eye inside the Moon's shadow.

Here's what it looks like right now:

Click to view the rest of the comet's tail

Michael Jaeger photographed the comet from his backyard observatory in Austria on Feb. 16th. "The comet's tail is magnificent," he says. "It is currently more than 2.5 degrees long."

At the moment, 12P is invisible to the naked eye; you need a telescope to see it. However, it is approaching the sun for a close encounter in April. Between now and then, forecasters expect the comet's brightness to increase at least 40-fold to magnitude +4.0. That would make it a borderline naked-eye object just in time for the eclipse.

"Border-line naked eye" doesn't sound spectacular, but 12P may have a trick up its sleeve. The comet is famously variable, with surges in brightness that no astronomer can fully predict. 12P is festooned with ice geysers, old-faithful-like vents that spew plumes of gas and dust into space, cloaking the comet in a veil of sunlight-reflecting material. An eruption of one of these geysers during (or even around the same time as) the solar eclipse could catapult it into the realm of magnificent.

The eruptions are not rare. Astronomers recorded at least half-a-dozen in 2023. One of them increased the comet's brightness more than 100-fold (5 magnitudes). These outbursts may become even more frequent as the comet approaches the sun and heat opens more vents.

A tip for eclipse photographers: Take two cameras--one for the sun, and another for Comet 12P. You might be glad you did.

Observing Tip: Venus and Jupiter will be visible, too. Venus will be very bright and shine 15º from the sun even before totality begins, while Jupiter, 30º from the sun, will appear during totality. Comet 12P will be close to Jupiter. [sky map]

[MaineJay]

Looking at cloud cover the last 23 years, looks like there's a roughly 40-45% chance of clear enough skies up this way.   

 

[Hiramite]

Some more historic cloud data.  This surprised me.

https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/archives/57278

[Mainiac]

I know it going to rain. 

On 2/5/2024 at 11:39 AM, Rush said:

I don't have an equatorial mount to track the sun so I am going to have to manually adjust the lens as the day progresses.  Otherwise I would automate the entire experience.    I've thought about buying a mount but since I am flying I don't really want to dedicate bag space for it.

I will take pictures probably every 10-15 minutes on either side of totality.  During totality I'll simply pop the solar filter off and a few 10 frame exposure bracketing shots. 

With the solar filter on I plan to shoot at f/12-16, 100 iso, then whatever shutter speed seems good.  During totality I will shoot f/12-16, 100 iso, then use the shutter to bracket 10 steps.  

 

 I'm wondering if my Ronin RS3 could be used as a sun tracker combined with the internal Panasonic S5 II autofocus. Something to play with, I suspect. 

I've been messing around taking a few shots of the sun and moon just to get an idea of what I can do with my Sigma 70-200mm. I've come to the conclusion my Asahi Pentax SMC Takumar 500mm f4.5 while fun, isn't up to the task (challenging to focus; goes past infinity, lots of CA, lack of clarity) and I'm not ready to make the leap and get something with more reach. 

 

And yes, it will probably be cloudy or rain. 

 

 

Edit: I've never used a solar filter before and  love that I can view sunspot region 3590 quite clearly!

[Rush]

Just one more new moon to go.   Those maps show a less than 10% chance of clouds in southern Texas, where I am headed.

Edited February 27 by Rush

[BuckeyeGal]

Question for those of you in the know. Is the path of totality complete for everyone inside of it? Because my house is inside of it, but not by much. If I stay there, will I get to see the whole kit and caboodle? Or do I need to be closer to the center?

[clm]

[clm]

1 hour ago, BuckeyeGal said:

Question for those of you in the know. Is the path of totality complete for everyone inside of it? Because my house is inside of it, but not by much. If I stay there, will I get to see the whole kit and caboodle? Or do I need to be closer to the center?

 

Sounds like you will either see the whole thing or something similar to the first image in the reply in the link below.  I think the more pressing question for you would be any cloud cover that day.

https://www.quora.com/How-does-a-85-95-solar-eclipse-look-like

 

Edited March 8 by clm
fixed numbering

[Hoosier]

5 hours ago, BuckeyeGal said:

Question for those of you in the know. Is the path of totality complete for everyone inside of it? Because my house is inside of it, but not by much. If I stay there, will I get to see the whole kit and caboodle? Or do I need to be closer to the center?

Pretty much.  You either have totality or you don't.  If I were you though, I would consider trying to get as close to the center line as possible as that will offer a longer duration of totality.  Every second of totality is precious time, and it goes by fast.  Also, if there happens to be scattered clouds in the area and one comes over during totality, a longer duration of totality could perhaps be the difference between getting a brief break in the clouds to view the eclipse vs not.  You never know.  

Speaking of clouds, I was so nervous about that spoiling my view during the 2017 eclipse.  You get one shot to get it right and if you end up setting up in the wrong area, there's really no time to move.  There's no wait til tomorrow with eclipses... more like wait til years from now.  Fortunately, clouds were not an issue where I was as there were only a few scattered clouds near the horizon.  Some of the clouds that day actually seemed to fade away as totality drew closer, likely due to the drop in temperature.  I think it depends on the type of cloud though.

The model cloud output was very helpful, and I plan to use it extensively for this eclipse.  I remember Pivotal even had the path of totality overlaid on their maps, which was nice.

[Hoosier]

Can't believe we're only a month away. 

[clm]

2 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Pretty much.  You either have totality or you don't.  If I were you though, I would consider trying to get as close to the center line as possible as that will offer a longer duration of totality.  Every second of totality is precious time, and it goes by fast.  Also, if there happens to be scattered clouds in the area and one comes over during totality, a longer duration of totality could perhaps be the difference between getting a brief break in the clouds to view the eclipse vs not.  You never know.  

Speaking of clouds, I was so nervous about that spoiling my view during the 2017 eclipse.  You get one shot to get it right and if you end up setting up in the wrong area, there's really no time to move.  There's no wait til tomorrow with eclipses... more like wait til years from now.  Fortunately, clouds were not an issue where I was as there were only a few scattered clouds near the horizon.  Some of the clouds that day actually seemed to fade away as totality drew closer, likely due to the drop in temperature.  I think it depends on the type of cloud though.

The model cloud output was very helpful, and I plan to use it extensively for this eclipse.  I remember Pivotal even had the path of totality overlaid on their maps, which was nice.

They really ought to schedule this on a clear sunny day.  🤪

[clm]

2 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Can't believe we're only a month away. 

Last one was a total over my area.  Glad I got to see it.  This time it is 85 to 90 percent